iCrossing Creates New Media Services Unit

Hearst's digital agency iCrossing is combining its search marketing, performance media and social media teams under one new umbrella: Media Services.

Industry veteran Mike Racic, most recently SVP Director of Agency Partnerships and Category Strategy at RocketFuel, will lead this new group as president, reporting to CEO Nick Brien. The unit will work with iCrossing's other divisions including  creative, strategy/data and technology. However, there will be no physical reorganization based on this move. The media and search teams will continue to exist across offices throughout the U.S. 

"The vision of a media services practice that is truly driven by data and insights and focused on omni-channel solutions is the Holy Grail for agencies," says Racic. "Everyone wants to be doing this, but no one has cracked the code. iCrossing can be just that for clients today because of its stellar expertise in performance marketing on top of being owned by Hearst, which gives it distinct advantages through access to consumer data and rich creative resources.”

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Racic’s background as both a media executive and communications planner, combined with being a programmatic tech expert is the kind of mix essential for servicing clients looking to maximize their return in a scattered media culture, the agency said. Prior to RocketFuel, Racic oversaw the portfolio management team in the U.S. at UM, part of IPG Mediabrands (which Brien ran for several years before heading to sibling ad shop McCann and subsequently Hearst). Before that Racic ran portfolio management at J3, UM’s division that manages its Johnson & Johnson business.

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